A Glitch in the Matrix
by Unicorn of Castiel
Summary: Meet Natasha "Shall we play a game" Romanoff: Master at disguises: Master at cosplay. Meet Bucky "I want to go to a science convention the day before I leave for war" Barnes. He's a ghost story, sure, but his idea of blending into a crowd is sticking his collars up and putting on a baseball cap. Let's see how they fare at ComicCon.


**AUTHORS NOTE: Set between Winter Soldier and Civil War. Buckynat comic cannon. I don't own Marvel. Although, if I did, Hydra Cap and Brutasha wouldn't be a problem.**

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Bucky was disappointed at the number of flying cars in the twenty-first century. Howard Stark's son was a flying _man_ for godssake, didn't he have any interest in his dad's old blueprints? Like… _at all?_ Fanboying over his own prosthetic arm always felt a little lame. No matter how scientifically badass it was, it had still strangled a lot of good people. So in the year or so he'd been free of Hydra, or any of the other handlers, he'd thrown himself into the modern world. Which meant throwing himself into the modern _nerd._

Hands gloved when they weren't shoved in his pockets, the coat covering the rest of his metal arm was open on a Star Trek shirt. He was currently stuck between his coffee and a doughnut as he stared at a stool of Doctor Who merch. Tall and keen-eyed enough to be okay at the back of the crowd swarming it, when another surge of excited nerds brushed past him, he caught onto the same amazement that was making them squeal in joy. The woman they buzzed around, throwing her questions and compliments, looked exactly – _exactly –_ like Trinity from _The Matrix._

When he saw her, Bucky personally felt like there really was a glitch in the Matrix. De Ja Vu meant nothing to most people. If Bucky thought he recognised someone, however, it was always bad news. He didn't register that he'd dropped his doughnut. When the kid, who'd been trailing behind the cosplay enthusiasts, picked it up and turned to give it back to him – the guy in the baseball cap and collars was gone.

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"Sweet food and _then_ savoury? Each to their own, I guess." Natasha queued behind the guy in the Star Trek t-shirt. Peering around him to see how many people were left until she was served.

"Wha-?" Star Trek guy jumped around. Not in the surprised crap-you-were-closer-behind-me-than-I-thought way, which Natasha knew well. It was in the oh-crap-my-cover-was-blown-how-did-anyone-even-see-me way, which Tasha also knew. Although not as well. She was better than that.

"You were the guy at the Doctor Who stall with the doughnut, right?" She asked. Although she knew perfectly well that he was. She swore to herself that she hadn't even been looking for him here. That wasn't a door she wanted open. She just wanted to hoard up on nerd intel and t-shirts. And yet here she was. Maybe she'd always been looking. Nat didn't fixate on it, that wasn't a question she wanted answered either. She gestured to the hot dog sign at the end of the line. Bucky looked around, unaware he'd joined it.

"Err…yeah?" Bucky was stumped. Rapidly, he was realising, that he didn't know how to talk to people. Especially not women in skin tight leather that he couldn't shake the feeling knew something about him. Women that could follow him when he was meant to be hiding.

"Is this your first time at a comic con?" Trinity asked as the queue moved forward. Natasha adopted the tone of someone making polite conversation perfectly. Bucky barely turned back to her again. His hairs were on end. His adrenaline pumping. And not in the good way. De Ja Vu was _not_ good for him. He'd been trying to ignore it. Pass it off as paranoia. Of which he had an abundance. Now Trinity had not only found him - but was pushing conversation. It was unlikely the average person would notice every single person in a room as crowded as the one they'd been in.

"Yeah, it is." He tried to sound preoccupied and rude. Discourage her from talking to him, just in case she _was_ just a nice girl making small talk and wasn't going to try and kill him anyway...or worse. He _really_ wanted her to be a good guy. Just the average civilian. He didn't want to have to deal with anything more today. Today had been an attempt to find more of his personality. He'd been enjoying himself. _Please be a good guy._ Bucky glanced back to the smirking Trinity. It really was a good cosplay. Maybe he wanted her to be an average civilian because the adrenaline was a bit of the good kind too. Not that he knew what that felt like.

"You don't talk to girls often do you?"

The queue moved again. Bucky shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Is it a not interested thing? You're not sweating as much as the guys who've come on to me today."

Because Nat had been hit on _a lot._ By men, women, aliens and a drunk non-binary person who had wanted to make their gender very clear – should she wish to accept their offer. The queue moved again. Bucky was almost ready to be served. He ditched impoliteness, that hadn't worked, and went for ending the conversation as swiftly as he could. He glanced back, attempting to match her smirk. He wasn't sure he'd ever been a smirker.

"Neo didn't look that sweaty to me."

Trinity laughed. Bucky liked the sound – but was becoming increasingly sure the glitch in the Matrix was a full-on technical fault that could switch to static at any moment. Even so, he'd never been more grateful that he'd watched the Matrix a month earlier.

It was a stupid thing to do, given his situation. What he was meant to be doing here. And how cosplay-trinity was becoming a bug in his head he didn't trust. But he still offered to pay for her hot dog. And she said yes.

"Can I at least know your name, Star Trek guy?" Trinity asked, after Bucky had made his excuses to leave for a signing he didn't want to miss.

"Kevin Peters." Bucky didn't feel bad for lying. He didn't ask Trinity what her name was. They'd already bonded enough for two perfect strangers. Especially for someone who Bucky wasn't convinced was a stranger. He took an awkward step back.

 _Do you at least recognise me?_ Natasha searched his blue-grey eyes from behind her small black glasses. She wasn't naive. She knew the answer. He didn't know her. Natasha Romanoff existed in this room for nobody. She was Lilian Pike, a secretary who cared more about fiction than her work life. Not being Natasha Romanoff was probably why she let her cover slip a little. Her Lilian cover _and_ her Natasha cover. There was the slightest hint of Natalia in her words.

"Must've convinced you to take the blue pill, huh?"

Again, Bucky was stumped. He didn't say anything. _Were you ever able to talk to girls?_ Blurry memories crawled under his skin. A red head at a fair and a big stuffed teddy bear looming over them. No money. He'd tasted hot dogs then too.

Trinity was already walking away. She smirked one last time, pulling something from her back pocket, one hand still full of hot dog. Hopefully, it was just the detail of her cosplay, else it would be weird to have a spare red jelly bean to send flying at his face. Bucky couldn't help it. His reflexes zapped in his blood. He caught the make-shift pill with his left arm. The sleeve fell down a little. He was sure Trinity registered the silver metal without a hint of surprise. Bucky lowered his hand and the metal was covered again. Inspecting his palm, he found the red jelly bean crushed. When he looked back up Trinity was gone. A better ghost than he had been.

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 **AUTHORS NOTE 2: Thanks for reading! Check out my other Marvel fics if you fancy. Reviews and feedback are always taken on board. I'll see ya soon :)**


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